The Treatment: The Cleansing Ritual by Ground at Eden One leaves you feeling light and rebalanced

A gut treatment pre-Christmas may not seem the most likely option for December party prep.

But for Peigin Crowley, founder of Ground Wellbeing, who has just partnered with Eden One day spa to create a bespoke cleansing treatment launching this week, says this is the perfect time to give your gastric system some love: “I firmly believe that the gut is the centre of everything, a place where people hold anxiety and store stress, it is like our second brain.”

And it stands to reason, given that many of our emotional states manifest in an intestinal way – from the sensation of butterflies to full-blown ulcers – and it chimes with the renewed focus on the health of our microbiome.

Recent research in the journal General Psychiatry, published by the British Medical Journal, found a direct correlation between a continued relaxed state created by practices such as meditation and enhanced microbiota in the digestive system, leading to a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease.

With the health of this key biological driver in mind, Crowley is also launching a new product that forms a key part of the treatment.

The Cleanse Abdominal Oil (100ml, €38) contains castor oil blended with cardamom, ginger, marjoram and caraway, as well as peppermint and fennel, giving it anti-spasmodic properties to ease digestion and encourage a peaceful night’s rest.

“Castor oil is amazing,” says Crowley, “when you apply it to the abdomen, liver and kidney areas, you feel lighter, more energised. It is a detox.”

In terms of the treatment, it is a head-to-toe experience, to get your system into the state of rest and digestion (expect lots of tummy gurgling – this is a good sign) with much of the focus on the upper body and the abdomen, an area that is often left out of treatments.

Lasting 90 minutes, it begins with guided deep belly breathing using Ground’s essential oils, followed by a five-minute body scrub with a dry brush using Ground’s Beo oil.

Then, a 30-minute back massage with a heat pack on the lower back, after which you turn over and the new Cleanse Abdominal Oil is applied as well as a heat pack to the abdomen.

You are then treated to a face massage with reflexology, followed by lymphatic pumping for 15 minutes. Then comes the abdominal massage which lasts a blissful 30 minutes with the whole treatment finished off with a foot massage and reflexology.

It is, and feels like, a complete treatment, and the focus on the abdomen makes it pretty unique in the wellness space, and a very welcome one.

The combination of Ground’s soothing products and the calibre of the therapists in Eden One is a winning one too, having, as they do, some of the best-trained of any luxury spa here.

What it delivers, other than the 90-minutes of de-stressing and tension release, is a kind of rebalancing and lightness in the immediate aftermath.

You feel an increased energy in the days that follow, with kidneys working overtime to flush out the toxins released. And if this is not your idea of a good time before Christmas, it also makes the perfect reboot for the new year.

The Cleansing Ritual costs €200 for 90 minutes, which includes use of all the facilities at Eden One. The Cleansing Abdominal Oil is out this January from Ground Wellbeing.